Printable View
Subject: Re: various from jms
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>I can't find MN 5, and a comics owner told me it was running late . . . was he in error?</font>
Whoops...I misspoke...meant to say MN4, not 5, which will be out next month. Much apologizings.
jms
Subject: Re: Att. JMS - Babylon 5 Short Stories - Please Put 'Em Together &
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>I hesitate to ask, but is there anyone at Del Rey to whom we, the fans,
should write, to lend our support to the idea, *or* is this something that you think might be detrimental?</font>
That would be Steve Saffel at Del Rey.
jms
Subject: Re: Att. JMS - Babylon 5 Short Stories - Please Put 'Em Together &
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>Is there enough word count to make a volume? My gut feeling would be that a little more would be desirable (for more than one reason).</font>
You'd probably need another 3-4 stories to fill it out. Anne McCaffrey was open to doing one, so was Neil Gaiman, and I'd probably do at least one more.
<font color=red>I wasn't aware Anne was a B5 fan...is she, or is she just interested
in writing for a different universe?</font>
She's a fan, as I understand it.
jms
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lyta Alexander:
Subject: Re: various from jms
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=yellow>Avery wrote the script for the X-Men Annual 2000, Actually, I believe she just did the dialogue.</font>
That's what the script is in comics as Marvel tends to do them. There's Plot and there's Script, the latter being the dialogue. The credit in the book says "script by."
So far today I'm two for two....
jms<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<font face="Verdana">
<font color="yellow">BTW - Comics are rapidly becoming a notable monthly expense for me...
Basically, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!</font>
Yeah, but I'm okay with that.
jms
</font>
<font face="Verdana">
Posted by Lyta earlier, but too long to repost. Here's an extract...</p>
Finally...and you'll have to forgive the vagueness of this...B5 fans may want to keep their ears to the ground for the next few weeks. There are several things that have been simmering for a while now, which I haven't commented on because I wanted them to be realities, not possibilities, before I said anything. I think the former may finally be working out...so keep an eye on
this newsgroup for the next few weeks. There may be a number of interesting
announcements.
jms
</p>
<Font color="red">
Joe-
I sent you an email back when Rising Stars first came out, to let you know
that it was selling incredibly well in the comic store I manage. Thought
you might like to know that RS is now our best-selling title, tied with JLA
and X-Men! Not bad, sales-wise!
I've also been showing my customers (the ones who're B5 fans) the
psuedo-announcement above, and you are now personally responsible for the
mental anguish of several dozen people! Happy now?
</font>
That's my job.
jms
</font>
Subject: Re: Did your audio in "ItF" also sound flat?
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
I think the problem is being caused by running digital sound through an analog
dolby decoder at the point of broadcast.
jms
Subject: Re: Sci-Fi Channel breaking news
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>To me, "aborted" in this case is not a correct term. If TNT canceled the show and then just locked away the episodes and never aired them---that would constitute both a "canceling" and also an "aborting";
but that didn't happen. If one finds it easier to accept the canceling by saying it was "aborted", then so be it.</font>
Actually there is a distinction. Canceled usually means it was on the air, then got canceled. TNT pulled the plug on Crusade before it ever aired, so it metaphorically never made it to term.
jms
Subject: Re: JMS: Appearances?
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>I'm particularly interested to know if you might be coming to Orlando for
MegaCon this year. <font>
No, no current plans for Megacon. I'll be cutting back con work substantially this year to focus on work.
jms
<font face = "Verdana"><font color="red">
Con work, eh? That doesn't sound like any fun at all.</p></font>
It's definitely work, though. When I go to a con as a guest, I tell them up front that I'm there to work my butt off for the convention. Between the often multiple single presentations that can go for two hours at a shot, never sitting, plus other panels, plus signings, I can usually count on losing about five pounds in a weekend convention, sometimes more. If people are going to come from sometimes hundreds of miles away to be there, I owe them nothing less than a total effort.</p>
jms</p>
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Complete Book Of Scriptwriting Question
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>JMS, I enjoyed reading TCBOS, but I wanted to ask you about an omission; that of comic book scriptwriting. I remember a column you wrote for Writer's Digest that used your script for "Face to Face to Face to Face" as an example. Why wasn't this column, or another that covered the topic of comic scripting, included in the book?
Thanks,</font>
I didn't know enough about comics writing at that time to do a chapter on it. Maybe down the road now that I have enough background to give credible advice....
jms
Subject: Re: Anxiously awaiting Midnight Nation #5
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>Noticed that the new issue hasn't come out yet since at least December. I wonder if something is being held up at the printing end.</font>
I've just today approved the last of the colored pages on Midnight Nation 5, and I think this is the strongest issue to date. It gives you a preview of what's coming down the road (again my tendency to show you what's coming at the end, but you don't know the context) and it's just completely kickass, especially the artwork, which is impressive as all hell.
I think it'll be out in a couple of weeks. Keep an eye out for it, it's a good one.
<font color=yellow>For that matter, when's Rising Stars #13 out?</font>
Same deal here, the last of the colored pages came through on Friday, so it should be out in a few weeks.
jms
Subject: Re: Boxleitner and JMS in EON - ATTN JMS
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>However, he says television is entering a recession and that there is
no reason for Warner's to do more B5. Basically it sounds as if he thinks there'd be no money to be made.</font>
Bruce is a fine actor, but he really doesn't understand the business part of making and selling TV series. Of course there's money in it to be made, that's why they keep making TV series of all stripes.
Actors and writers get residuals each time an episode is aired. The amount of that residual is not based on the ratings, so any actor can't tell how it's doing based on that.
There are three different formulas used to compute ratings, one for network, another for syndication, a third (and the crummiest) for cable. Crummiest in that the amount of the residual is tied to the amount paid for the rights to show the series. Consequently, many of the studios that own cable networks (as Universal owns USA Network, for instance) sell the shows to themselves for the smallest amount possible.
Hence, a residual that, for a third or fourth airing, might bring a couple thousand bucks elsewhere, in that situation brings you literally about five dollars.
This is one of the issues being addressed in the current pre-strike negotiations.
jms
Subject: New City of Dreams (repost)
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
The prior note didn't seem to go through, so for reference purposes...for those who've been waiting for the next installment of THE CITY OF DREAMS, it's up now at www.scifi.com/cityofdreams -- it's entitled The Alpha and Omega of David Wells, and it came out pretty nicely. (Stars Peter Gallagher.)
jms
Peter Gallagher, wasn't he the American Dr. Who in the The movie that succeeded Sylvester McCoy?
<font color="red">
Have you been out of the B5 business long enough that the characters have stopped whispering dialog suggestions and witty lines to you? Or are you doomed to a life of being awoken at 2 AM by Londo whining about this and that?
</p>
</font>They've learned to be a little more subdued...
jms
</p>
<font color="red">
[long post regarding seeing JMS at a few cons where he was mobbed and showed signs of exhaustion]
...So when you say, ''If people are going to come from sometimes hundreds of miles away to be there, I owe them nothing less than a total effort,'' I say thank you for giving nothing less than a total effort.
</p></font>
I appreciate the kind report; I try as best I can to do as much as I can. Sometimes I fall short, but when things work out, it's great.
jms
</p>
<font color="red">[Re: actors given a chance to work on <u>Crusade</u> that were on Babylon 5]
Actually according to Jeff Conaway it is a bid different here. Jeff, Tracy and Jerry were offered contracts for The Babylon Project: Crusade. But then some higher ups wanted (illogically) so divorce Crusade from B5 (so it could stand on it's own). The offers were taken back from Jerry and Jeff. They kept an offer open to Tracy because one of the higher ups went to school with her and wanter her in the series.
</font></p>
One should be careful what one listens to on the rumor mill. The only problem with the foregoing story is that it isn't true.
I had spoken with Tracy well in advance of Crusade about being involved with that series. (At one point I'd even mentioned to her that we were considering her for the role of captain of the Excalibur, though in the end we went for Gary Cole.)
Her position on the show got whipsawed by the changing positions at TNT. At first they wanted her there as well for purposes of continuity. Then they decided that they wanted the show to be TOTALLY SEPARATE from B5, no references, so we cut her appearances from the first episodes...then they said they DID want her so we put her back in again.
But that's about it.
jms
</p>
<font color="red">.... can't believe I'm so emotionally involved with a science-fiction show that'e been off the air for a couple of years. Thanks, JMS!
</font></p>
The pleasure is entirely mine.
jms</p>
<Font color="red">
I was wondering how you would compare and contrast the experience for writing for DC then and writing for Marvel/Top Cow now, since you now have the luxury of name recognition.</p>
</font>
There really wasn't much difference, in that Bob Greenberger pretty much let me do what I wanted, as long as I didn't change anything canonical. It was also just a one-shot, so there was only so much damage I could really do. What the "name recognition" factor has done, really, is to just get me access to more cool stuff.
</p>
<font color="red"> Also, did you use the same writing style you use now. Was there any editorial meddleing or artist conflicts (drawing it differently that you wrote it).
</font></p>
In order of inquiries: yes, and no.
</p>
<font color="red">I always liked that issue and thought the two characters were a perfect pairing.
</font></p>
Me too. I was surprised nobody had ever thought to put them together before, since there's a lot visually and thematically to play with.
jms
</P>
<font size="-4">
[This message has been edited by Wizz (edited February 04, 2001).]
Captain "Cupcake" was going to be the captain of the Excalibur?
I can hear ProfCrash cringing already...
heheheh No real problems with Lochley here. The only real problem I ever had was that JMS tried to develop an entirly new character in the fifth season when he was wrapping things up. I mean, Sheridan and Lochley married but that not appearing in either of their records? Please.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ProfCrash:
heheheh No real problems with Lochley here. The only real problem I ever had was that JMS tried to develop an entirly new character in the fifth season when he was wrapping things up. I mean, Sheridan and Lochley married but that not appearing in either of their records? Please.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Even in the U.S. military today, they don't list ex-spouses. If you're married, the records say married. If you're divorced, they say single. Ex-spouses aren't included in the information package, so I guess I don't understand which records you're talking about. http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/confused.gif
Actually, Fan, I remember alot of folks posting this same quiblle when the episodes originally aired and I don't remember anyone pointing that fact out. I had that same quibble so I for one definitely appreciate you sharing your knowledge in this area. Thanks
------------------
Sindatur - The Grey owl Wizzard
I also appreciate Fan's info.
I wonder though- someone in Sheridan's or Lochley's position in Earth Force and as prominent leaders- that is Sheridan anyway, surely the background would have been thoroughly researched and scrutinized- year by year or even day by day of their lives. That is the case now, yes? And I would assume in the future that even more through records would be possible.
Bmat, maybe in the future, private matters like divorce are treated as just that: private.
Fan, thanks for that enlightening info.
soo, clark gone, sheridan restored, garibaldi happy--
and now all we have to look forward to is the introduction of captain cupcake to the cast (the best argument ever for not allowing short woman in tight trousers to obtain authority).
can't we just skip to Sleeping in Light and go back to Season One?
Subject: Re: Boxleitner and JMS in EON - ATTN JMS
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Actors and writers get residuals each time an episode is aired. The amount of that residual is not based on the ratings, so any actor can't tell how it's doing based on that.
There are three different formulas used to compute ratings, one for network, another for syndication, a third (and the crummiest) for cable. Crummiest in that the amount of the residual is tied to the amount paid for the rights to show the series. Consequently, many of the studios that own cable networks (as Universal owns USA Network, for instance) sell the shows to themselves for the
smallest amount possible.
Hence, a residual that, for a third or fourth airing, might bring a couple thousand bucks elsewhere, in that situation brings you literally about five dollars.
This is one of the issues being addressed in the current pre-strike negotiations.
jms
Subject: Re: JMS: favourite Twilight Zone eps?
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>Now, to get some variation, we are planning to show a few of your Twilight Zone episodes, so now I wonder, which are your favourite episodes?</font>
Probably my favorite overall is "Dream Me a Life," with Eddie Albert.
After that, probably "The Mind of Simon Foster."
"Special Service" was a good script that got played wrong on pretty much every level (though it's interesting to look at in light of The Truman Show, which came much later).
From a historical perspective, "Our Selena is Dying" is kinda cool in that it features a posthumous collaboration with Rod Serling.
"The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon," written in collaboration with Huck Barkin, is also a fun episode.
The rest of them are okay on various levels, but I'm not sure I'd single them out for special attention.
jms
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Who should I contact to get the licence for publishing
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>Everyone tell me that I could write a book on Babylon 5 only if I can get the license... but nobody is able to tell me whom I should write to. Therefore I don't have any other choice than making a survey.... Whom do I have to write to acquire the official license and how much do
I have to pay for it?</font>
Writers cannot get the license for TV series or movies, only publishing houses can do so. Del Rey currently has that license.
jms
Subject: rising stars 13 out tomorrow
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Just to let folks know that the new issue is due out Wednesday. (I realized I'd buried that info in a reply to another message). It's a big issue, story-wise, and a lot happens to resolve the current threads.
jms
It was a most excellent issue. Very, very cool. A couple of plot twists I was not expecting, but that is what makes the book fun.
Subject: Re: Rising Stars 13: Stalingrad
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>When do you start on ASM? Looking forwards to seeing what you can do
with him now!!!!</font>
My first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man comes out in April, I believe.
FYI, on the issue of comics (kind of an unintended pun there)...the next issue
of Midnight Nation comes out next week.
This is the one that sets the tone for what's to follow, it gives you a look
down the road to what's going to happen to David through the eyes of somebody
else. It's kind of like the B5 thing of showing somebody the end while you're
near the middle. In my opinion it's the strongest book of the bunch.
Jms
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Eilerson in Memory of War.
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>virus-infected crew-members is breaking down the door to Max's room;
he's crouched in the corner with a PPG, and at one point he leans forward and grabs some sort of pouch from the table and holds his close to his chest. I'm wondering; was this in the script, or was this improvised?</font>
It was improvised...basically, David figured he'd want to have his stuff with him if all hell broke loose.
<font color=red>On another note, I'd just like to congratulate you on the character of
Max Eilerson.</font>
Thanks, he was actually quite a hoot to write.
jms
<font face ="Verdana"><font color="yellow">
Recently you were quoted as saying that you've contacted the people that helped make B5 a success and asked if they'd be available and want to work on a possible project set in the B5 universe. You had also stated that you wanted to have a different sound and feel for Crusade and thus Mr. Franke was not asked to work on crusade.
And so, if you do get a go ahead for a project in the B5 universe will you
ask Chris Franke to score? Evan Chen? Someone other than these two?
Thanks for your time.
Jon Frain</p></font>
I haven't talked to Chris yet, but I can't imagine doing another project in the B5 universe without him.
jms</p></Font>
Subject: Re: Attn. JMS: Chris Franke ever to return?
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>I ask because I was unaware of how undecided TNT really was in terms of separating Crusade from B5. That is until I read a recent post from you. Your early messages regarding a Call to Arms seemed to indicate a strong desire on your part to create a VERY different sound for that film
and later for crusade.</font>
Yes, that was really all there was to that particular decision. Crusade (by my
original plan at least) was gradually going to grow into a somewhat experimental show, and I wanted the sound to reflect that...something definitely non-Western in origin.
jms
Subject: from jms: a few quick items
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
While I'm waiting for permission to talk about some of the big stuff that's going on, some general news....
As announced today in a press release from the SciFi Channel, the network has picked up all 13 episodes of Crusade for broadcast this Summer. This will be the first time the series has been broadcast since its brief, original run on TNT.
I received an email the other day from Fiona Avery (B5 reference editor, columnist for the B5 Magazine and script writer for both Crusade and Earth: Final Conflict) announcing that the first issue of her new, original comic, NO HONOR, will be debuting next Wednesday the 21st from Top Cow/Image. (I've seen the scripts/artwork and it's killer.)
On the topic of comics...I will be writing a one-off B5 Graphic Novel for Wildstorm that will debut later this year. I figure on writing it as soon as I get out from under my current deadlines.
One aside...as you know, most viruses that go out these days tend to attach themselves to Microsoft Outlook email address books. Apparently there's an *awful* lot of you out there that have me in your email address books, even though you may not have actually used it in that way. Hence, whenever one of
these viruses gets out, as one came out today, I invariably get a bunch of them
in my email box. Just as a favor to me...if you don't actually *need* my email address in your address book, can you delete it to help me out when this kind of stuff happens? It ain't like I'm hard to find....
And finally...yes, it's true, B5 will be coming out on DVD starting with The Gathering and In the Beginning, to be released in July. The series will start soon thereafter. I've been going over the artwork and related issues for WB Home Video, and though at this time there's no supplementary material involved, at least as far as I know, it should be pretty cool. (Don't know yet which
aspect ratio they'll be using, but my *guess* would be widescreen, now that WB is correcting the earlier versions.)
All of that said...as noted well above, there's some substantial TV-related news sitting out there waiting for me to talk about it as soon as I'm given the go-ahead to do so. Suffice to say that one very large deal has now been set and closed, another is in heavy negotiations (with money now on the table from those involved), and a surprise third project is also coming up fast and
furious.
More on these when I'm allowed to talk about them. Probably sometime next week.
jms
Subject: Re: from jms: a few quick items
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=yellow>The only question I have here is... will it just be the SE version of
the Gathering, or will the original _also_ be available on the disc?</font>
The first disk will have In the Beginning and the SE version of The Gathering.
jms
YEEEHAAAAAW!!!
Wow Scifi Channel came through for us. I missed the Path of Sorrows (I think that's right)(The 4th ep. they showed) and didn't even tape it. Apparently it explains Galen's separation (unless that's the episode that was shown later, but was supposed to be earlier)from Gideon and crew.
Also, if they take on the 13, who's to say they can't remuster the crew and finish the Great Maker's Dream (And ours)
------------------
Sindatur - The Grey owl Wizzard
Subject: Re: from jms: a few quick items
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>Will this be part of continuity of the show? Is it something you've now planned for this or something that might come "out of storage". the story of the Telepath War maybe?</font>
I think I'd like to do something in continuity with the series, so that it feels like an unproduced episode...but I haven't decided yet, and don't want to go too far down that road until I've talked more to the guys at Wildstorm. They've been great in all this, they initiated the project, and I want to be sure that welcome is treated properly.
<font color=red>Do the B5 rights still hold with DC then (they own Wildstorm right?) because they are a WB company? I was urprised that it wasn't under the Top Cow imprint when you said it. But then I don't really know how the licensing thing works so....</font>
WB owns the rights, which reverted after DC stopped doing the books. They'd rather not go to an outside company for political reasons.
<font color=red >Oh and *thanks so much*. Just had to buy yet MORE comics to get me up
to date on Midnight Nation after hearing such great things. I thought I could give them up completely after dropping X-men. Then I read "Born In Fire". And bought loads of RS to get me current. Now I'm into MN. (when's #5 out?)</font>
Good timing. Midnight Nation #5 comes out tomorrow. Get this one, it's a real corker.
<font color=red>What is the expected time frame one hearing back regarding the Rising Stars film? I've decided to wait until the series is over before reading them, but I've heard great things.</font>
Film-making is a long process. The first draft is in, I'm currently revising it for a second draft. If all continues to go well, and so far it's gone very well, we could film this sometime in the fall or spring of next year, so it could conceivably be in theaters by next fall/winter. Assuming nothing
glitches along the way, and you always have to assume those things.
<font color=red>Is Fiona Avery's B5-related news, that hasn't been released, related to your talks with sci-fi? Is her deal, whatever it is, still in the works?</font>
It's still in the works.
jms
Subject: from jms: i forgot something
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
I forgot to mention in my last post that on March 26th, I'll be doing a panel discussion on writing for the fantastic, which will be carried via satellite to various universities and the two divisions of the Museum of Television and Radio. The panel will feature me, Harlan Ellison, Chris Carter and 1-2 others TBD.
jms
Subject: Re: from jms: a few quick items
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>And before anyone flames me: The Gathering was shot in 4:3 as opposed to the rest of the series. Thus, a "widescreen" version would have to either be a cropped or vertically panned & scanned version, and this would be far from the show's correct aspect
ratio. </font>
No, the DVD of the Gathering would not be in fake wide, it'd be in the original aspect ratio. As I noted earlier, the way SFC aired it was an error.
jms
Subject: Re: from jms: a few quick items
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
My logic on ItB was basically this: you can't keep the basic info on the series a secret forever. Some things enter the common base of knowledge. So you may as well play into that by showing what folks will pretty much know about over time anyway, and make the suspense one of, "When are the *characters* going to find out about this stuff?"
Playing B5 to some extent as a mystery only works when it's first on the air. After that, the dynamic changes substantially.
jms
Subject: Re: Thirdspace: When was it filmed?
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>As we all know, Claudia Christian did not sign on for season 5 of the show. That said, wasn't it TNT that requested the movies? Wouldn't she have been
out of contract for when the film would have been shot?</font>
All of the actors who appeared in the movies negotiated separate deals for those, NONE of the movies were covered by prior series deals because one's a movie, one's a TV series, and the pay rates vary considerably.
jms
Subject: Re: JMS Marching Morons--Seattle area
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>Early heads up for JMS' dramatization of "The Marching Morons" on
March 7th on Seattle's KUOW which can also be heard at www.kuow.org.
The series title is NPR Playhouse 2000X and the host is Harlan Ellison.</font>
Don't bother. I found out recently that the script that has my name on it does not represent the work I did. The guy who does the show basically wrote a script of his own and put my name on it. I've asked him (through attorneys) to take my name OFF it, because it's just awful. And it's false advertising, because it ain't my work.
jms